"It is atrocious," said Grosse, who wanted to change the subject. But
this was effected by the most unexpected apparition of Mr. Delaport
Green, whom they had both supposed to be refreshing himself by the sea
at Brighton.

Mr. Delaport Green was dressed in very light grey, with a white
waistcoat. His figure was curious, as it extended in parts so far in
front of the rest that it gave the impression that you must pass your
eyes over a great deal of substance in the foreground before you could
see the face. Then again, the nose was so predominant that it checked
any attempt to realise the eyes and forehead, while the cheeks were
baggy and the skin unwholesome.

Edmund Grosse had only seen him on two occasions when he dined at his
house, and he had liked him at once. There was something markedly
masculine about him; he knew life, and had made up his mind as to his
own part in it without delusions and without whining. He would have
preferred to have been slim and handsome, and to have known the ways of
the social world from his youth, but there were plenty of other things
to be interested in, and he was not averse to the power which follows on
wealth. He was a self-made Englishman, with nothing of the Jew about
him, either for good or evil. But no apparition could have been more
surprising to the two as he came slowly over the grass to meet them.
Molly saw at once that Adela's husband was exceedingly annoyed, probably
exceedingly angry, and although she had always felt his capacity for
being very angry, she had never seen him in that condition before.

"I came down in the motor to get a short talk on business with Miss
Dexter," he explained, "but I am sorry to disturb a more amusing